| After the disturbing death of a monk at the abbey of St. Martin's-in-the-Marsh, Hugh Corbett is commisioned by the king to uncover the mystery surrounding the abbot's death. Hugh arrives at the monastery to find that suspicion could be placed on any of the members, especially some of the leaders.
Due to the Abbot's mysterious "suicide" note about the Corpse Candles, Hugh needs to sift through legend and old intrigues to discover the truth. Hugh learns that the candles supposedly foreshadow one's death, but he struggles to believe in the regional folk tales about the ghost of Sir Geoffrey Mandeville, who rides around killing innocent people; rather, he believes that someone in the Abbey itself has committed the crime. During Hugh's investigation, more monks continue to die, creating more urgency to uncover the culprit. Surprisingly, Hugh finds that the most revealling facts come from the Abbot's own early lifestyle. After several attempts are made at his own life, Hugh discovers one of the most important facts for the investigation: the Abbot has an illegitimate son. This son has the perfect motive for murder as he was neglected as a child. Hugh tries to frantically find the son before the young man escapes to freedom, but will he be too late? | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging Time/era of story: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 0 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 20's-30's Motive of antagonist - revenge How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting Europe Yes European country: - England/UK Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript |
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